


As the Dawn Sets - Yuuka's recollection

by InTheMidnightRain



Series: Danganronpa: Horrors Beyond Belief [2]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Danganronpa
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood, Boyfriends, Death, Depression, Drowning, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gore, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Mentioned Murder, Murder, Some characters are just mentioned, blackened, class trial, emotional genocide, fangame, killers, killing game, memorial, no there arent any onions, pepto bismal, still horrible but please cry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:42:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24266071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InTheMidnightRain/pseuds/InTheMidnightRain
Summary: Yuuka explains how things unfold after Ryuu is found dead, and talks about the unsettling break in Shouta's cold exterior.
Relationships: ryuu yukimura/shouta nakamura
Series: Danganronpa: Horrors Beyond Belief [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1751605
Kudos: 2
Collections: Danganronpa Fanfictions





	As the Dawn Sets - Yuuka's recollection

**Author's Note:**

> I once more am here to pester and plug the fangame linktree! If you haven't read the previous work in this series ("The End of Our Time - Ryuu's death"), please do. It does shine a little light on the recollection, and allows it to make more sense. 
> 
> Anyway- Linktree!  
> https://linktr.ee/lingeringdespair  
> Go there to find out more about the fangames, like the characters, the second fangame (that is unrelated to this one) and other stuff!

I had never seen Shouta seem so… distressed, over a dead body– I mean, his ultimate ability was pretty much just to strategize the best way to kill the most people in order to make a point. I’m not trying to say he enjoyed the job his brain had borderline forced upon him, but he usually had so much self-control. I remember the look on his face, the pale, lifeless expression he held painfully as he stumbled into the room with tears falling down his cheeks. I don’t think he knew he was crying, but his subconscious knew how to express the pain that his brain was still processing. He could barely walk – hell, he could barely stand. At first, there was confusion – no one knew why he was so distraught, no one else had seen what he just did, the mere shell of someone that was left-behind when their livelihood was stolen. It only took three stuttered words though, then /everyone/ understood. “R-Ryuu- He’s… d-dead..!-” was all he could say, and after those words were spoken, the tears fell from his eyes significantly faster, and any control he had vanished. He began to sob uncontrollably, but I understood why. Ryuu was probably the most important person to him here. He was his only hope, they made empty promises that they’d both survive this… Shouta knew better, he knew that there was no certainty in the simple privilege of living, but empty promises were all the inseparable pair had. It didn’t need to be explicitly stated that Shouta and Ryuu were dating, you could just tell, they didn’t have to hide it, nor did they want to. It was a premise of “love in this hell is a miracle, and you will have to pry it from my cold, dead fingers”, that premise had just been taken a little too literally. Somehow, together, Ryuu found the will to laugh even during this emotional genocide, and it was a beautiful thing. His feelings spawned entirely from Shouta’s affection alone. I remember vividly how Shouta swore he would destroy the bastard who did this, as he sunk to the floor and lost the strength to stand entirely. Seeing him so sad, and angry at the same time was horrifying, and all anyone could do was watch, because no one knew what to say. It didn’t take long for Shouta to realize his beloved Ryuu’s killer was in this very room, because we all gathered here for a now unimportant meeting, and much to my own dismay, I was the one who sent him away to get Ryuu when he entered the dangerous zone of being late. I felt guilty for doing this to Shouta – If only I somehow knew that going to find Ryuu would break the “tough-asshole” that we knew. I felt guilty enough that when my mind slowed down for a millisecond and I was back in reality, I rushed to Shouta’s side, and wrapped my arms around the redhead, while he stared at the rest of the group with wide eyes of disbelief. The disbelief that the person who hurt him on the deepest level was looking back at him, while feigning that they were just as shocked by the news as everyone else. The non-believers of Shouta’s tale rushed to the crime scene, to selfishly see to it themselves that he wasn’t lying about his boyfriend’s tragic end. I stayed behind, I didn’t need to see it, and I couldn’t bring myself to leave Shouta alone in a room with some of the suspects. Shortly after I whispered a sorrowful “I’m so sorry” to the person I felt responsible for breaking, my memory faded. I just faintly recall him weakly wrapping his arms around me in return, and burying his face into my shoulder as he cried that much harder.

Unfortunately, hell’s gates didn’t close there. The investigation was long and hard, Aiko being the most helpful when it came to clues, because Shouta, who was one of the best investigators we had, refused to go anywhere near the scene, and I didn’t blame him in the least. I felt hurt too, Ryuu was one of the few bright lights we had in this grim prison, but I was relieved every time Shouta asked me to stay with him when he was unable to carry on with being alone, I knew that meant that he at least believed I wasn’t the culprit, and even though the pain easily outweighed it, it was nice to feel like Shouta knew I was the last one capable of betraying him like this. So both me and Shouta were useless when it came to looking for clues. Fortunately, Aiko pulled us through the investigation with help from the others - and before we knew it, the class trial was upon us. The entire time, Shouta looked mortified, and I wished he didn’t have to be here, especially as Hoshiko said the cold words of “how do we know Shouta wasn’t his killer? He was alone with him before he came rushing to us”, and that was the final nail in the coffin, I think. Shouta broke right there, and spent a brief moment ranting about how he loved Ryuu more than anything, that he couldn’t believe Hoshiko would pin this on him. I looked to Aiko and from the look in her eyes, I could tell she was about to spin a significantly different tale of how Ryuu’s ending came to be. Eventually, with evidence, refuting many counter-arguments, and lots of stress over the longest hours of our lives, Hoshiko was appointed guilty. Aiko managed to prove that she was in-fact the blackened responsible for breaking Shouta. Just after the class trial ended, and Monokuma confirmed Aiko’s story of how this came to be, I remember Shouta lunging at Hoshiko with a look of betrayal, and anger on his face, and I can confidently say I had never seen his pale cheeks look redder. Kei and Michi both managed to gather their senses and reflexes enough to stop Shouta from reaching Hoshiko, just moments before she was toted away by Monokuma for her execution. The time between was spent with her explaining in a sad attempt why she did it, her own expression pained. Shouta barely listened, and to be real with you, I think it was entirely because he wanted some justification, some reason that would outweigh his heartbreak just enough, but anyone else knew that no such thing would come about. Nothing could justify her actions, not even the tears that fell down her cheeks as her death came closer and closer. I can say one thing – She was scared, and wanted out of this, and her irrational thoughts outweighed the sense of reason and morality. She did it because she herself didn’t want to be a victim, and her explanation proved that the heavy moments she forced upon us weren’t out of cold blood. Ultimately, however, she made herself a victim of her own tragedy, all in her attempt to avoid such a thing.

For the following days after the trial, Shouta wouldn’t say a thing, not to me, not to anyone, he was just in a pained silence as his brain caught up with everything that happened. When he finally had the courage to speak, he told me that he would stop at nothing to make sure that this hell would come to an end, and that we could survive. He swore that he wouldn’t let Ryuu’s love and bright impression fade, not until the day he died and joined Ryuu amongst the stars. He promised that Ryuu’s memory would be honored in every way possible, that this wouldn’t be Ryuu’s watery grave. If I was asked if I believed him, it’s a yes in every way, because Shouta had a will to make Ryuu’s memory almost as bright as he was when he was alive and able to grace us in it, and that was a beautiful thing, even if it shouldn’t have to be a “thing” at all. He was back in a pained silence during the miserable and sort-of-shit-memorial I insisted we hold, but it was the best way to put the most destroyed parts of Shouta, as well as Ryuu, to rest.

**Author's Note:**

> Shameless plug, which I still urge you to look into!: https://linktr.ee/lingeringdespair


End file.
